Welcome to the Teenagerie

This post is cross-posted from my new project Teenagerie.com, a blog about media representations of teenage culture!

The notion of a separate teenage culture is a concept that is relatively young. Prior to the 1930s, nothing but the thin line of employment separated those who were kids from those who were adults. With the onset of mass unemployment during the Great Depression, however, young people suddenly found themselves idle-- redundant in the overcrowded workforce. As a remedy to this problem, Roosevelt's New Deal conceived of the National Youth Administration (NYA), an agency that aimed to keep young people out of the glutted workforce by encouraging them to finish high school.

The NYA ended up increasing graduation rates, but more importantly, it succeeded in centralizing America's young people into secondary schools. As young people flocked to high schools, an environment was created that allowed for the inception of a unique teen culture, one with its own music genres, fashion tastes, and outlooks on life. For the first time in history, society began to regard the public life of the young adult as something separate from the life of the family. Thus, the teenager was born.

Somewhere along the line, though, between today and the birth of teen culture, society's conception of what it means to be a teenager has changed. What was once dictated by a hand-jiving and heavy-petting set of young people has now largely been appropriated by businesses and the media as a means of exploitation. Teen culture today is something that is packaged, marketed, and sold back to teens for their own consumption, and usually not with the most encouraging message. Through the eyes of the media, teenagers are shown as narcissistic, lazy, and unintelligent. We are condemned for being tech-obsessed, shallow, and impulsive. The irony in this situation is that this perception stems not from teens, but from a preconceived set of norms that we as a society have allowed to dictate our expectations for how young people should behave. Instead of liberating us, teen culture restricts us by setting boundaries for who we as teens are allowed to become as we come of age.

With my previous project, The Seventeen Magazine Project, I spent a month living according to the gospel of Seventeen magazine, exploring expectations that modern media sets surrounding beauty and girlhood. I drew the above conclusions during my work on the project, and but had difficulty finding information that broke down the social construction of what it means to be teenaged. Through this struggle, the idea of Teenagerie was born. Taking inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, Sociological Images, as well as from the vast amount of other sources on the internet devoted to breaking down societal norms, I created this blog with the hopes of promoting discussion around and challenging the idea of what it means to be teenaged, and what it means to come of age in our changing times.

This blog, which will update on weekdays, will offer analysis of advertisements, film, and other media--past and present--along with essays on important topics surrounding "the teenage condition," which often has far more in common with the human condition than we are led to believe. My hopes for this blog are that it will be productive in promoting discussions surrounding the important questions about adolescence, which range from What are today's teens really like? to How accurate is the media in portraying these representations? Through promoting critical analysis, I hope this blog can serve as a place for celebrating teens and humanity in general, as well as for breaking down the generational barriers that keep us apart.

This post is cross-posted from my new project Teenagerie.com, a blog about media representations of teenage culture!

The Search for Teen-Friendly Media

Throughout this project, I've been asked by friends and press alike, "If teens shouldn't be reading Seventeen, then what should they be reading?" I've put some thought into this question, and the answer that I've come up with really isn't as cut and dry as a good answer usually is. There isn't a whole lot of teen-specific media on the market "getting it right" when it comes to providing teens with content that is entertaining, relevant, age-appropriate, and not entirely demoralizing. Seventeen makes an effort, but falls short of achieving this goal by addressing teen girls as a monolithic block of people with a unified interest in nail polish, dieting, and winning the attention of swoopy-haired boys. If the perfect piece of mainstream teen media did already exist, it'd be unlikely that I would have ever even found myself motivated to begin this project in the first place. There just would not have been a need.

In an effort to explore some less-mainstream alternatives to Seventeen that are available on the market, I put out a call a few weeks ago on my blog for information about teen-friendly media. Besides this phrasing, the only other qualifications for submissions that I required was that anything submitted must "get it" when it came to addressing teens and the teenage experience. This vagueness was intentional. In failing to define the term media, submissions ended up ranging from movies to music to books to innovative advertising campaigns. People also took liberties with the term teen-friendly, frequently submitting content intended for more general audiences, but that teens could also enjoy without feeling looked down upon or excluded. Ultimately, the amount of submissions that I received from everyone ranked somewhere on a scale between ridiculous and very ridiculous. I decided, for my sanity, to only include on this list things that teens might use in their life as a supplement to or replacement for Seventeen.

What this list is not is a pearl-clutching list of child-friendly fluff. The content included does not consider teenagers to be ignorant to world trends and complex ideas. Thus, if you are a parent or other adult, you may choose to preview this content before sharing it with the young person in your life, though it is likely that their knowledge of these subject areas exceeds your expectations.

I've organized everything loosely into categories for your browsing convenience. Each suggestion is attributed to the person(s) who submitted it. If there is no name, it is a personal recommendation of mine. Feel free to leave additional recommendations in the comments, and I'll add them in as I see fit!

Magazines

The most logical direct substitute for Seventeen.

• Shameless: As their website puts it, Shameless is, "Canada's independent voice for smart, strong, sassy young women and trans youth." As one Seventeen Magazine Project reader put it, "I've always thought of this as sort of the anti-Seventeen." (Submitted by Heidi, also Kim.)
• Justine: If you find Shameless to be too progressive, but can't stomach Seventeen, then you might appreciate Justine, which includes real girls in its pages and focuses on careers and books as much as it does on beauty products. Not perfect, but a definite step in the right direction for younger teens. Link. (Submitted by Brenna)
• Bitch: Though not specifically geared toward the sub-18 set, Bitch has plenty to offer bright, older teens who don't spend all day in their rooms inhaling nail polish fumes and gazing at photos of Justin Bieber (i.e. most of us). This "feminist response to pop culture" includes really interesting book, film, and movie reviews. If anything, this is the closest thing that exists to what I'd like to see Seventeen become. It's hardly high-level, and hardly radical-- just good content in an enjoyable package. (Submitted by Dominique, seconded by me)
• Teen Voices: A really fantastic biannual magazine, Teen Voices tackles everything from sex trafficking to college essay writing to social networking. Articles are written by and for teen girls, which helps the magazine avoid coming off as patronizing, as content written for teens is wont to do. Teen Voices does a fantastic job of treating teen girls as a real, dynamic humans, not a flat set of stereotypes. (Submitted by Laura)
• Sadie Magazine: Sadie deliberately positions itself as an alternative to the hair-and-makeup model of teen magazines. In their mission statement, they say that they strive to empower young girls, not train them to consume. I kick myself for not thinking of this brilliant way of phrasing things, and fully support this line of thinking. Even more awesome, their "centerfold" section actually features interviews with women who are out in the world doing kick-ass things. (Submitted by Anna, and others!)
• Bust Magazine: Bust is a lifestyle magazine that treats its readers like they actually have a life. That is, Bust is full of interesting articles and fun activities with which to fill one's time, not just makeup tips and advertisements. While not technically for teens, I would say Bust's overall message is far less harmful than that which Seventeen sends. It really depends on what kind of parent you are though. I think I'd rather expose my kids to swear words and sex talk than the belief that their natural appearance is inherently flawed. That's just me though. (Submitted by literally everyone I know)
• New Moon: This magazine has nothing to do with the Twilight series. In fact, I'm not sure if New Moon magazine's mission could be farther from that of the consumerist Twilight propaganda. New Moon is an ad-free magazine that challenges girls aged eight and older to confront cultural stereotypes of physical beauty and pursue self-discovery and creativity. I am not one for new-agey things, but this sounds incredible. I wish there was a version of this for teenagers, or even for women.

Blogs

Like magazines, but on the internet!

• The F-Bomb: A blog for teenage feminists, written by teenage feminists. What I particularly like about this concept, besides everything, is the fact that a number of girls contribute, so instead of a single party line, you get a complex discourse on the past, present, and future of feminism. (Submitted by Claire, also Miranda)
• Women's Glib: More bright young women writing about feminism! Also, beauty, education, ageism, government, reproductive rights, masculinity, and a ton of other stuff. Reading this blog makes me so excited to see what my generation will accomplish.... I have no idea where you ladies live, but if you read this and are ever in Philly and want to hang out, email me or something! (Submitted by Miranda)

Advice

(books, online, and otherwise)

• Scarleteen: Scarleteen offers facts about sex for teenagers of all genders and sexual orientations. That's it. No political or moral spin. No connotations. No partisan funding. The writing is casual and often funny. What I love is how the site treats sex as something neither dirty nor sterile, and still manages to communicate its consequences, a rarity in the teenage world.
• TeenHelp: Like writing into a Seventeen for advice, except questions actually get answered, promptly, by non-profit volunteers. TeenHelp doesn't shy away from topics like disability, eating disorders, and rape, but you can also check the site out for general chatting about pets, sex, gaming, and hobbies. (Submitted by Imogen)
• Savage Love Podcast: You can absorb the gospel of Dan Savage, the voice behind this podcast, in the form of a blog, a column, or an iPhone app, but personally I prefer the podcast. Newcomers beware, Savage's brand of advice is not for the weak of stomach or closed of mind. Uncensored and brash, he readily tackles any question thrown at him. On first thought, this may not sound ideal for teen listeners, but he frequently fields calls from the younger set, and what I like most about his responses is that he takes care not to talk down to us. Dan Savage tells it like it is, euphemism and sugar-coating free, a welcome reprise to the candy-coated, pinkified bullshit that is so often sold to us as teens.

Obviously, there is much more content out there that teens can look to for advice and entertainment than the few items included on this list. In lots of cases, what I would recommend is that teens look outside of the teen world entirely, and instead look into the world of interest based content. For instance, if you like photography, why not subscribe to Popular Photography? Into science? How about checking out Wired, a personal favorite of mine? I think that sometimes in their attempts to market to us, mainstream media tends to trap teen girls into a box, both interest and intelligence wise. The items on this list do a good job recognizing my peers and me as a diverse group among ourselves, but I'm not sure how bad it would necessarily be to sometimes allow us to just assimilate into society as a whole. I'm going to put some more thought into this, but sometimes I think that the notion of a separate teen culture is actually hurting teens.

Some favorites from this week!

Happy Friday!

So I'm all over the news lately with this project, which is so weird for me. If you follow me on Twitter, then you already get my uncensored musings about why I probably think its best that major life transitions don't typically come with a voice in media. Anyhow, I've been busy enjoying the opportunity to spread the word about healthy body image, media bullshit, and why we need a broader definition of beauty. I won't bore you all with interviews, but feel free to Google stalk me. While I'm here shilling for myself (barf barf barf) I will also encourage you all to fan me on the social cesspool formerly known as Facebook. Now that that's over with...

Picture submissions have been steadily rolling in, with many more promised for the weekend! Here are some smile-makers from today. There are a bunch more over here at Flickr. If you are new to the blog, you can go here for a full description of the project. I'm about 2/3 through a massive post on alternative teen-friendly media. It's not too late to email me your suggestions. I'll try to get that up this weekend.

via Laura at Naked Under These Clothes

Hey mainstream media! We are....

Submissions are trickling in. Here are a few that made me smile especially large. You can see all submissions here. If you are new to the blog, you can go here for a full description of the project.

Planning on writing something later, but figured that I'd get these up to give everyone a midmorning smile.

Hey mainstream media...

In thinking about how to wrap up this project, I decided that I wanted to do something action oriented. The Seventeen Magazine Project has made some strides in calling attention to and promoting discussion about the inaccurate and unfair representations of teens, women, and humanity as a whole in mainstream media. The blog itself, however, has done little to actually spur large-scale, direct change. Having established this blog as a foundation for discussion, I thought it would be nice to end the project with some sort of advocacy campaign-- a project involving readers that called mainstream media out on the carpet for their limited and inaccurate portrayal of what it really means to be a teen, a woman, and a human.

I kicked around some ideas with my dad about possible projects. He vetoed most of my suggestions, pointing out that use of violence/vandalism/open flame/mustard gas would probably cast a dark shadow over the positive message of fair media portrayal that I was trying to promote. At the very least, I thought it might be cool to put some faces to the people that mainstream media is misrepresenting. Here is what I came up with. The project is called, "Hey mainstream media!" To participate in this project, all that you have to do is take a picture of yourself holding a sign with words finishing the statement, "Hey mainstream media! I am...."

Anyone can participate in this project. That is, anyone that at some point has felt misrepresented by or excluded from mainstream media. This project is NOT just for teens. Are you a black woman? Maybe you're more than just a sassy best friend character. A straight man? Maybe you're interested in more than just pictures of naked women. Unlike media, this project does not exclude or alienate any demographic.

You can email me your submissions here, or add them directly to the Flickr pool. I'll add all the pics that I get to the Flickr pool, and post the ones that I find most interesting here on the blog.

Eventually, if enough people participate, I am thinking about having these photos printed up into collage-style posters and mailing/delivering them to the offices of magazines/tv studios as a reminder of how few consumers actually fit the limited set of stereotypes that media prescribes to us.

Make the type on your poster bold and readable! Let's see how many pictures we can get by July 6. Here's number 1....

Hey mainstream media! I am...

Graduation

If you have noticed the lack of posts for the past few days, it is because I have been busy celebrating my high school graduation. I thought it would have been a grave injustice to sacrifice actual teenage experiences in the name of keeping up with my blog that is supposed to document actual teenage experiences.

Paradoxes and catch-22s aside, graduating high school was great, if not anticlimactic. The event took place on my school's football field. The temperature was a sweltering 94 degrees, but in my ankle-length, polyester sweatbox it felt much warmer. Numerous anti-frizz serums and elixirs kept my my hair from mushrooming out from beneath my mortarboard. I have to admit that, temperature aside, I felt hotter in my academic regalia than I have felt in

any other outfit that I've worn during the duration of this project. How anti-Seventeen this is, especially since I was wearing an identical outfit as 275 other girls.

The ceremony itself was fairly boring. I pomped. I circumstanced. I listened to a bunch of adults who I didn't know address the class of 2010, but actually address our parents, using metaphors about butterflies and the like. I sweated. I waved to my grandparents. I asked kids sitting near me overly personal questions about their sex lives. I counted how many people in the stands brought umbrellas for sun protection. I sweated some more. I cheered really loud for my friends. I got my diploma. Then I was graduated.

Initially I was surprised how easy it was to graduate. The only two skills you need are walking and sitting. My seat mate kindly reminded me that I actually had to do 12 years of work to earn the right to walk and sit. This observation made me feel stupid, but also accomplished. I know that school is mostly compulsory, but it felt really great to complete an endeavor that took twelve years, especially when I sometimes fail to finish projects intended to last an afternoon.

In the spirit of closure and accomplishment, I'll acknowledge the fact that today is the technical last day of this project. I'll save conclusions, summaries, and lessons learned for a future post, but I just wanted to sort of frame out what the rest of this blog is going to look like for everyone. Today is the last official day of The Seventeen Magazine Project, as outlined by my initial post. I am going swimming at my cousins' house for Father's Day, so I'll dress bikini confident and blog about it tomorrow. That will be the last fashion/beauty post.

The week to come is going to include lots of stuff related to teens and media and fair portrayal, including a list of pro-teen media that seems to "get" the teenage experience. I'll also be putting together a short project, a little bit of a fuck you to Seventeen, that lots of people will have the opportunity to get involved with. This will run all week. Hopefully we can affect some change in the ladymag industry. It'll be fun/badass/a little subversive I think. I'll introduce it in detail tomorrow probably.

EDITED TO ADD: Fan me on Facebook, and then maybe delete my personal profile from your friends? I am trying to figure out an easier way to keep in touch with people. My real life friends find the current system to be REALLY annoying.